Absolute Carnage may have come to a bloody end, but the threat of Carnage and Knull, god of the symbiotes continues to loom over the Marvel Universe. With the seeds for the next symbiotie-fueled event planted, a new line of one-shot issues exploring the immediate fallout, and setting up Knull's presumed arrival on Earth, has launched under the banner The Ruins of Ravencroft. The first issue focuses on the untold history of Carnage.

Written by Frank Tieri and illustrated by Angel Unzueta and Guiu Vilanova, The Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage send Misty Knight and John Jameson to the Ravencroft Institute, where Cletus Kasady led his fanatical cult during the events of the crossover. As friendly and unfriendly familiar faces join them, the characters discover an aged text that reveals the shocking history behind the sanitarium's creation and its ties to the founding of what would become New York City. It's a tale written in blood and terror that establishes shocking legacies for classic Marvel characters and institutions.

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Tieri previously wrote several of the key lead-up stories to Absolute Carnage, and several of its tie-in issues once the crossover got under way. As such, the fan-favorite writer is no stranger to exploring dark, new sides to the symbiote mythos, and this special is no different. However, now Tieri has the benefit of going back centuries into the past of the Marvel Universe, and the more unexplored canvas gives him greater freedom to really dial up the horror without the modern comforts of a world protected by superheroes and other familiar figures.

This is a genuinely unsettling tale at times, reminiscent of the colonial period horror film The Witch. Tieri knows how to build tension and deliver with bloody effect, and this issue is both an entertaining read and comes off as surprisingly vital for establishing the hidden histories of Carnage and Ravencroft itself. How this will play into the heavily implied next crossover is anyone's guess, but above all, Tieri has written a tightly scripted, captivating horror story.

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And that horror largely succeeds because of Tieri's artistic collaborators, Unzueta and Vilanoa. The duo are joined by colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, with Unzueta illustrating sequences set in the Marvel Universe's relative present while Vilanova illustrates the bulk of the issue, with its sequences set in New York's colonial past. The transitions are smooth but Vilanova's free rein to lean into horror in the period piece setting makes his work really excel. He builds an atmospheric, haunted locale as the new world's dangers within the undiscovered country come to fiendish light.

The dust has barely settled on Absolute Carnage but Marvel is wasting no time laying the groundwork for new symbiote stories that will upend the Marvel Universe as we know it. Earlier lead-in issues had shown previously untold stories involving symbiotes, but the first Ruins of Ravencroft special is off to a strong start by going back even further in history. Frank Tieri, Angel Unzueta and Guiu Vilanova have delivered an effective horror issue more than capable of standing on its own, but also filling out essential backstory, with surprise ties to the present. If the following specials keep the momentum and horrific tone going, the next symbiote event is sure to be a terrifying one.

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